Leading port operator, Tin Can Island Container Terminal (TICT) has been conferred with the Terminal Operator of the Year Award by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).
The award was conferred on TICT on Saturday in Lagos at the NIMASA Corporate Dinner and Merit Awards chaired by former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar and attended by the representative of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, and the Director-General of NIMASA, Dakuku Peterside, among other dignitaries.
TICT owns and operates Terminal B of the Tin Can Island Port, Lagos. The terminal has three berths with operation capacity of 360,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), a shore length of 770 meters and a backyard of 240,000 square meters.
Since it won the Federal Government’s concession to develop and operate Terminal B of the Tin Can Island Port in 2006, TICT has invested about N70 billion (USD225 million) on the provision and development of facilities at the terminal.
The terminal has also improved on service delivery and trained top quality manpower, giving rise to professional and effective service delivery at the port. Ship turnaround time at the terminal remains one of the best, as vessels spend only a few hours at berthing point to discharge their consignments as against over 30 days spent for the same purpose before the 2006 port concession.
In November 2017, TICT made history when it unveiled the first set of female harbour crane and Rubber Tyre Gantry (RTG) operators in Africa.
The operators – Oni Taiwo Omotayo; Tina Onwudiwe; Adewale Adegoroye; Adeniran Maltida and Ajayi Oluwaseun – were the first set of women to be trained in heavy-duty cranes operation in the country and the entire Africa.
“What is interesting is that we were able to bring in women operator into our industrial equipment conduct, which means that it is an additional opportunity for women in Nigeria and also a role model within and beyond the continent that women can actually turn into equipment operator in what has traditionally been a man dominated industry.
“Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa and Nigeria is also showing the way for women employment into the port industry. So it is setting the pace for others within Nigeria and Africa as well,” TICT had said during the unveiling of the female crane operators in 2017.
The Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala Usman, who was guest at the unveiling of the women crane operators had expressed delight and commended TICT for the initiative.
“I will like to see more women being engaged in port operation activities. TICT has done something very impressive with the fact that they have realised the skill and capacity of women and they have trained them and engage them doing this job,” Usman had said.
The Terminal Operator of the Year Award was received on behalf of TICT by the Head, Legal Service of the company, Maryanne Olapade.